祈年殿 — Attraction in Beijing

The main prayer hall at the Temple of Heaven, it was justifiably the highlight of the entire park. Tons of history there, beautiful architecture, and its location on top of a large platform surrounded by a large square gave an isolated, other-worldly quality to it. Of course the armies of Chinese tourists let you know that you were still in the middle of Beijing, but there was still enough here to get a sense of awe from this place. Surely worth a visit if you...

The temple of Heaven is beautiful. The Chinese architecture and all the paintings with the blue near the sky is quite stunning. The gardens are lovely, even in autumn. I recommend you allow a couple of hours here to walk around and explore it all. It was rainy and overcast on our visit which didn’t detract from the photography...

The Hall of Prayers for Good Harvests is the most recognizable building of the Temple of Heaven complex. Imbued with symbolism (the round shape stands for heaven, the four beams that support the structure represent the four seasons, etc. etc.) this 40 meter high structure seems to reach to heaven....